Chapter 1375
Staying in the City or Fleeing
Chapter 1375 Staying in the City or Fleeing
Chief Han and Chief Wang from the outskirts of Baofu County also opened the sacks in other houses, several in a row, and poured the grain into wooden buckets and took them out: "Fellow villagers, look, this is rice, this is millet, which is millet with husks, and these are soybeans, red beans, black beans and other grains!"
"These rooms are all filled with potatoes and grains, taro, sweet potatoes, and wild sweet potatoes!"
"Our house here is filled with all kinds of dried vegetables! Underneath the dried vegetables are rows of charcoal. The charcoal can absorb moisture and can also be used to cook. We are not afraid of having food but no firewood and having to eat dry food!"
"Dried meat, this whole room is full of dried meat! Good heavens, I've never seen so many pig legs in my entire life... Hey? Is this cured pork? It looks better than cured pork."
"You bumpkin, this isn't cured meat or smoked meat. It's called ham, or 'glass meat,' and it's made using a special method. It's something for nobles!" someone boasted, showing off their knowledge.
"What special method is it made with? Please explain in detail!"
Uh, this?
Damn it, this guy doesn't know much either. He could only say, "That's a secret recipe of a noble family patriarch. How could someone of my humble origins know about a noble family's secret recipe?"
"Hahaha, I knew you were just showing off!" With supplies plentiful, the villagers in Dongcheng were overjoyed and laughed heartily.
But they were still worried and asked, "General Chu, are all the supplies allocated to the East City here? That's not enough to feed everyone for a year, is it?"
Even if there was only one meal a day, and even though the east city wall was very long, not every house inside the city wall was filled with food; many houses were the dwellings of the soldiers guarding the city.
General Chu said, "No, this is only a small portion of the grain. There is still a lot of grain in the granaries of the government troops and the noble families, which are guarded by Wei troops!"
"That's good, that's good." The villagers were relieved, but they couldn't help but curse the powerful families: "Those dogs, they're too greedy. They have surplus resources but don't sell them. They just hide them like rats. They've been hiding charcoal for almost a hundred years. What if they don't need it, or their descendants forget about it? Wouldn't all these resources be wasted?"
"What a terrible thing to do! Wasting food will get you struck by lightning!"
"A bunch of wicked bastards, they should just rob... Oops, slip of the tongue, I didn't mean that, please, sir, investigate!" The man shouted for half a minute, then remembered what the King of Ye had said about not robbing, otherwise you would be punished, so he quickly bit his tongue to stop talking.
I'm so glad I bit down quickly. After all, the Prince of Ye was alright, but the Qi envoy and the Qin family really dared to take down everyone in the city.
But it was too late. General Chu pointed at him and ordered, "Go, register his family, keep a close watch on them. If any theft or robbery occurs in the market in the future, he will be among the first suspects."
"He Ziduo, you good-for-nothing! You've caused trouble in our alley again! Neighbors, beat him up!" The people in the alley shouted angrily and gave him a beating to prove to everyone: "Fellow villagers, the people of Wanggui Alley in Dongcheng are all kind and virtuous. We will keep the people in the alley in check and will never allow any villains to emerge from here!"
"I was wrong, I know I was wrong, I just spoke too quickly, I really didn't mean any harm, please stop hitting me, neighbors!" He Ziduo repeatedly admitted his mistake.
But General Chu still did not change his order: "Register all the houses."
After the Wei army took action, General Chu addressed the crowd: "Listen up, all you who have thoughts of looting in the chaos! Even if you have evil intentions, you must suppress them in your hearts. Those who dare to act will be taught a lesson by the swords of the imperial army!"
Chief Lu and Chief Han took the lead in echoing, "We will remember General Chu's orders and would never dare to do evil!"
The other Wei citizens present also echoed, "We dare not."
Thump, thump, thump—the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground echoed as three more criminals, unable to withstand the rigors of labor, fainted. Even the overseer, Wei Jun, was speechless. Weren't they raised on good food and meat? How could they be so useless? They'd only done half a day of hard labor, and they were already fainting one after another.
"Take it away and assign it to night work."
"Yes." Several Wei soldiers went over, each carrying one away and throwing them into the tents of Young Master Bai and Second Master Kang.
Boom boom boom!
"Fellow villagers, now that you've finished looking, please go back and make room for other Wei people who want to see the supplies," General Chu personally called out.
Commander Gan was heartbroken. "General, you are a general, you can't be a lowly steward's assistant."
General Chu said there was nothing he could do; the people of Wei were all more rebellious than the last, and they treated the words of those of low rank as utter nonsense.
"Thank you, General Chu, we're going back now!" Chief Lü and the others left satisfied.
They hadn't walked more than ten meters when several groups of people from the East City came rushing over to see the supplies, asking them, "You can see supplies at the city gate? Did you see them? Are they really supplies? Or are they fakes filled with hay and stones?!"
"I've checked, it's real grain, no deception. You should go quickly, but you need to bring your household registration and be searched before you can see it!" Chief Lü told them the good news with great joy.
"Hey, it really is visible! It seems the city has plenty of supplies; we won't starve. Let's go, let's go see... Thanks, sir!" This group of Wei civilians hurriedly ran towards the city gate.
Zhou, the village chief, grimaced as he watched Chief Lü's retreating figure. "That old bastard, he's been scheming since he was a child!"
When the old men returned to their home on Songmo Street, they saw smoke coming from the kitchen. When they asked their wives, they learned that "the eldest son and the others aren't coming back for dinner, so we made dinner early so we could deliver it to the shop before dark."
He then explained the reason: "They said they've brought a lot of goods to the Xue family's trading company, and they need to receive, store, and sort them overnight. They sent a message telling us to keep an eye on things at night."
The old men were even happier after hearing this, and they told their families about the Q&A session, which put their families at ease.
"With sufficient supplies and normal business operations in all shops, we can continue to stay in this capital city."
As for leaving the city to find a way to make a living?
The families all agreed: "Don't be silly. It's not so easy to survive outside the city. We still remember how miserable Qin... Huang Lao Er and the others looked when they fled to the town. We won't go anywhere else; we'll stay in the city. If we can hold the city, we'll live. If we can't, our whole family, our relatives, and the entire village will die in the city."
Chief Lü gave his wife a thumbs up: "My wife's mind is just as sharp as mine. That's what I think too. When we have the fellow villagers' meeting later, I'll say this: if anyone wants to leave the city, we won't stop them, but they'll have to bear the consequences themselves."
The old men like Chief Lü are also very busy. They still have to go to a fellow townsman's meeting in Baofu County later to exchange ideas with their fellow townsmen about their town and village, such as whether to leave the city or stay.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"Clan Chief Lü, many people have arrived at the Xue family shop on the main street. They want us to hurry over so that Magistrate Kang can't wait for us!"
That's right, the Great Wei Dynasty hasn't fallen, and Magistrate Kang is still alive, so the people of Baofu County invite officials from the county government to preside over such important meetings.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" Chief Lü replied, and said to his family, "Lock the doors and windows. If anything happens, bang on the pots and pans and make a big commotion. The thieves will be scared off."
"I know, I know, do you need to remind me? Besides, life in the East City is quite comfortable, and the house is safe. You should leave now," Granny Lü urged him.
Chief Lu took his two older grandsons to a meeting on the next street.